The Trans-Mongolian

Post date: 15-Nov-2009 03:16:22

On Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 6:30 AM Colin and I boarded the Trans-Mongolian Train #24 in room III, beds 9 and 10. The train was larger than our Trans-Siberian train and there are 10 rooms per carriage instead of 8. We shared our room with two local Mongolians who are on their way to Beijing for vacation. Most of our carriage is filled with fellow foreigners with young children and they are from America, Australia, and Britain.

We had no issues at the Mongolian border and no one checked our bags. However, our bunkmates had their bags searched. At the chinese border, I had to take my glasses off and the officer starred at my passport picture and me for what felt like 5 minutes but I passed the inspection.

Next, the train moved to the Bogey Changing Station. You can see a video of the Bogey changing here:

Since we were in a carriage near the front of the train, our car was detached from the engine and the rest of the train while the old wheels were detached from the train and the new wheels were rolled underneath the cars. This process was necessary because in China smaller train track are used compared to in Mongolia and Russia. We wanted to get off the train to take picutres and pee becuase it was a 3 hour process but we were not permitted to get off during the bogey change. However, we did stop back at the station afterwards so that everyone could use the bathroom.

With only one night of sleeping on the train it was a comforting and relaxing trip. We saw great views of the little mountain and Lake communities in China. Many communities also have solar paneled street lamps whch is really cool. We arrived at 2:30 PM and made our way to Catherine's house for our hospitality stay.

You can view our other 103 pictures from our train trip here: